Whakatāne Intermediate School has celebrated a successful showing at the recent Super 11 Badminton Championships held in Whakatāne, claiming two silver medals and a fourth-place finish in one of the strongest intermediate school badminton events in New Zealand.

The prestigious tournament featured 64 teams from across the North Island, with schools travelling from Gisborne, Taupō, Rotorua, Tauranga and Whakatāne to compete in the annual intermediate school competition.

In the girls’ division, Whakatāne Intermediate pair Jessica Standen and Hannah Overdevest produced an outstanding performance to finish runners-up after battling through 10 demanding matches across the day.

Their semi-final proved to be one of the highlights of the tournament as they faced fellow Whakatāne Intermediate teammates Paige Boswell and Kiki Ou, who had also progressed through pool play unbeaten.

The tightly contested semi-final swung back and forth throughout before Jessica and Hannah edged ahead in the closing stages to secure victory by just two points. In the final, however, a strong Tauranga Intermediate School combination proved too strong, claiming the gold medal with a 29–21 win.

Paige and Kiki also impressed throughout the day, eventually finishing fourth overall after a tough playoff against Gisborne Intermediate School – a school they will meet again later this year during the annual Gisborne exchange.

The boys’ division also delivered strong results for Whakatāne Intermediate, with Jai Smit and Tyler Barton advancing to the final unbeaten.

The pair met an equally undefeated side from Te Puke Intermediate School in a high-quality final featuring powerful smashes, sharp drop shots and long rallies.

The match remained close during the early stages before Te Puke capitalised on key opportunities late in the contest to secure the title 28-19, leaving Jai and Tyler with an impressive silver medal performance.

The outstanding performances from both the boys’ and girls’ teams also helped Whakatāne Intermediate School secure the overall Top School title for the tournament – a fitting reward for what was an exceptional day of badminton.

Team manager Kendra Lowndes praised the efforts of the students following the tournament.

“The team did really well considering they have only been training for the past four weeks,” Lowndes said.

“It was really pleasing to see them playing some quality badminton, but more importantly enjoying the sport and building new friendships throughout the day.

“Across both divisions the Whakatāne Intermediate students performed exceptionally well. In the boys’ competition we had four teams reach the quarter-finals, and in the girls’ division to have two teams finish inside the top four was pretty special.”